Maya wooed to follow GCash’s IPO footsteps

MANILA, Philippines —  The Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) is trying to convince digital bank Maya to go public, believing it has what it takes to follow in the footsteps of e-wallet giant GCash.

PSE president and CEO Ramon Monzon told reporters that next on the PSE’s crosshairs is Maya, saying the bank is ripe for a listing because of its market’s maturity.

“We have to work on Maya now that GCash is listed,” Monzon said.

Monzon said Maya’s parent PLDT Inc. wants the bank to pursue its initial public offering (IPO) here. However, Maya’s foreign investors such as China’s Tencent and New York-based KKR & Co. Inc. may prefer overseas listing to hike valuation.

This is why PLDT chairman, president and CEO Manuel V. Pangilinan is plotting a dual listing in the US and in the Philippines.

Initially, the plan is for Maya to list in the US first, followed by an IPO here.

“Actually, MVP (Pangilinan) wants to list here, but I think their private equity firms want to list abroad, I guess, for the valuation,” Monzon said.

Monzon is ecstatic about the recently concluded IPO of GCash’s parent Mynt Inc., as it booked a record P60.9 billion in proceeds, with institutional and retail investors buying in.

Monzon said if GCash is any indicator, investors are looking at financial technology as potentially the next mover of capital markets because of the country’s digital shift.

GCash also attracted 20 cornerstone investors, such as BlackRock Inc. and International Finance Corp., to set the tone of its IPO.

Given this, GCash debuted with a market capitalization of about P442 billion.

Maya may be nowhere close to GCash’s monthly user base of 41.5 million, but it is making its presence felt in banking and business services.

In 2025, Maya registered its first profit in three years at P1.7 billion. Maya’s deposit balance has reached P86 billion as of June, and its loan book has gone up to P39 billion.

Maya is also leading its competitors in the race for payment acquisition, cornering 53 percent of all point-of-sale terminals to date.